He came under fire in JoCo for anti-trans tweets. Now he’s seeking Kansas seat

A candidate for the Kansas State Board of Education on Aug. 4, Jim McMullen, has faced controversy related to his school board seat in the past.

MCMullen is a University of Kansas graduate. He earned his bachelor's in Foreign Service and International Economics from Georgetown University, according to his LinkedIn. He works as a partner at Royal Blue Capital and currently serves a chairman for AA Wheel and Truck Supply.

He is running as a Republican for District 3, which represents Johnson, Miami, Franklin and Anderson counties. His opponents are Democrat Amy Diediker and Steve Roberts, another Republican who has been questioned for his actions.

In 2021, McMullen was elected to the Blue Valley school board, which represents schools across Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood and more. He served as vice president of the board until he was called to resign from the board by community members. He lost his leadership role on the board, then was voted out in the next election.

McMullen came under fire for social media posts that over 3,800 individuals petitioned against him for. The majority were posts on Twitter (now X) that included anti-LGBTQ and anti-transgender rhetoric.

McMullen stands by his position that gender ideology harms children and feels that he’s been proven right in the last five years, since he’s seen people shift their viewpoints in favor of his, he said.

“I’ve been saying the same things for a long time,” he said. The tweets were years old when controversy arose, he said.

The original controversy

In April 2022, after a crowded special board meeting, the board voted to strip him of his title.

The vote came to 5-2, in the petition’s favor, with McMullen himself and member Kaety Bowers voting no. He continued to serve his term as a member of the board.

McMullen compared the situation to the Salem witch trials, The Star’s Sarah Ritter reported at the time.

At the meeting, he defended his views, expressing that his opinions are not anti-LGBTQ. His stance against gender-affirming care and gender ideology is “pro-every kid, regardless of situation,” he said.

Among the tweets that caused the controversy:

McMullen posted on X: “President embracing child abuse,” as a reply to President Joe Biden’s statement of support on Transgender Day of Visibility.

When someone criticized his commentary, he tweeted, “I’ll continue to speak out about the poison that is gender ideology.”

He was later asked, “Should we also not say gay in schools?” McMullen responded, “Of course we shouldn’t.”

Board president at the time Patrick Hurley said that while board members have a right to express their views, McMullen’s posts did not align with the district’s discrimination policy and mission statement, which emphasize inclusivity for all students.

“There is a higher issue here. We’ve got to protect our kids,” board member Jodie Dietz said at the time. “We’ve got to believe all means all. And I think Jim says ‘all means all,’ but I think some of the verbiage that he has used does not convey that information.”

His 2026 campaign

Now, McMullen is campaigning to win a seat at the Kansas State Board of Education, hoping to return education to the basics, he said.

“I advocate for what I would call a return to foundational educational principles,” he said.

These principles are a knowledge-first education system to equip all students with a foundational body of knowledge, while eliminating noise, McMullen said.

This “noise” includes things like social-emotional learning, trauma-informed care, whole language reading instruction, experience-based math instruction and an overemphasis on mental health. These things are a distraction to education, he said.

“I’m not focused on what either my primary opponent or potential general election opponent says. I’m just focused on advocating for what I advocate for, which in my experience is far different than anything I ever see in the board of education,” he said.

Other initiatives he brings with his campaign are cultivating civic responsibility, preparing students to navigate the changing world and a commitment to education’s primary mission, according to his campaign website.